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China Mobile claims to have launched the world’s first 5G Advanced (5G-A) network
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Ericsson will support China Mobile in developing 5G A applications and use cases
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Finalization of 3GPP Release 18 in June this year will further help in developing 5G-A ecosystem
Chinese service provider China Mobile plans to expand the recently launched 5G Advanced (5G-A) network to over 300 cities by the end of this year, according to a press release issued by Ericsson.
The company recently launched 5G-A in 100 cities, which it claims to be the world’s first commercial launch of 5G-A services. In an effort to popularize the services, China Mobile plans to launch over 20 5G-A devices by the end of the year. The service provider is targeting having over 20 million 5G-A device users by the end of the current calendar year.
Swedish vendor Ericsson says it supported China Mobile in several aspects, including international standards, solutions, products and technology verification, preceding this launch. It will continue to support the Chinese service provider in developing new 5G-A applications and services and new business models in the future. As per GSMA’s latest report, more than half of mobile connections in China will be 5G by the end of the year.
“In the future, Ericsson will continue to help China Mobile explore new 5G-A applications and new services on domestic and foreign technology and industry platforms, including the 5G-A Innovation Industry Alliance, carry out technological innovation, and jointly promote the maturity of the 5G-A industry chain by working together to innovate a new 5G-A commercial model,” Ericsson stated.
China Mobile is one of the world’s largest service providers, with 991 million subscribers, including 465 million 5G subscribers, at the end of 2023. It added 138 million 5G subscribers last year.
China Mobile’s rival, China Unicom also seems to be close to launching 5G Advanced services. Earlier this year, Huawei announced that it is conducting a large-scale 5G-A pilot in Beijing in three areas of Beijing Financial Street, Beijing Long Distance Call Building and Workers’ Stadium.
Why Is 5G-A important?
3GPP Release 18 defines 5G Advanced (also known as 5.5G), which is seen as the next stage in the evolution of the networks from 5G to 6G. Several telcos may explore transitioning to 5.5G after 3GPP Release 18 is finalized later this year, in June 2024.
“It promises not only faster data speeds, reduced latency, and ultra-reliability but also unlocks a myriad of opportunities that could transform industries, consumer experiences, and the broader ecosystem. A crucial element of 5G-Advanced is its potential to power the metaverse and extended reality (XR),” says a blog by 5G Americas.
Chinese gear maker Huawei took an early lead by launching 5.5G hardware and software in October last year. Earlier this year, GSMA released a white paper on 5G-Advanced: Shaping The Future of Operator Service, which says that 5G-A will help the operators better monetize their investments in 5G.
However, to transition to 5G-A networks service providers need to deploy a 5G Standalone (5G SA) network architecture and should ideally be using cloud-native technologies.